Objectives: Toscana virus (TOSV) is the main arbovirus involved in viral meningitis within the Mediterranean basin. Infected individuals acquire the virus through the bite of a sandfly, Phlebotomus spp. The vector circulates during the summer, coinciding with the pick of incidence of TOSV meningitis, mainly localised in rural areas. TOSV has been detected in pools of sandflies, but it remains unknown if there are animal reservoirs able to maintain the virus through the cold months of the year, when the vector is not circulating. We conducted a serosurvey study of TOSV in domestic animals within Granada province (south of Spain) to evaluate the prevalence of anti-TOSV antibodies in this population.

Methods: Serum samples from the following domestic animals were processed for the investigation of anti-TOSV IgG antibodies from September 2006 to April 2007: cats, dogs and horses (provided by a veterinary laboratory in Granada city), and goats, sheep, cows and pigs (provided by the Regional Laboratory of Production and Animal Health, Santa Fe, Granada, Spain). The investigation of anti-TOSV IgG antibodies was carried out by indirect fluorescence assay (IFA), using Vero cells infected with a Spanish strain of TOSV as the antigen source, and specific antisera from each animal species.

Conclusion: These results show that an important percentage of the domestic animals have been infected by TOSV. Further studies are being conducted to evaluate the role of some of these animals as possible reservoirs of TOSV.

Session Details

Date:

16/05/2009

Time:

00:00-00:00

Session name:

19th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases